Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Rage arrived at Church at the same time Zeke did. They headed inside and he placed Lyric’s laptop on the bar.
“All right. What the fuck’s goin’ on?” the DAMC president asked him.
“Had an appointment with Lyric today—”
“You gettin’ another piece?”
Rage ignored that because that was the least important shit right now. “And she was gone when I got there.”
“Okay?”
“She’s always there durin’ shop hours.”
Zeke shrugged. “Maybe she went to get food or somethin’.”
Rage clawed back his irritation. He wanted to punch the fuck out of someone and Zeke was the only one within fist range.
Rage flipped open the laptop’s lid and pulled up the camera footage. He turned the computer so Zeke could see it, then clicked the play button. When it got to the masked kidnappers, Rage jammed his finger against the screen. “Look at this!”
Zeke’s head jerked back and went from unconcerned to wired in the blink of an eye. “What the fuck! Where were the rest of her employees and why the fuck didn’t anyone let us know?”
Rage shook his head. “No fuckin’ clue. Only saw that idiot Carl when I fuckin’ got there and that dumb fuck didn’t know shit.”
“Why the fuck would they take Lyric?” Zeke asked, still staring at the laptop.
“Who the fuck would take her?” Their eyes met. “Only two motherfuckers it could be. The Russos or the Twisted Souls.”
There better not be a third option. Those two were enough.
As the footage kept playing, Zeke leaned in closer. “Wait a fuckin’ minute. That a rental van parked at the front door?”
“Looks like it. Three of those motherfuckers put a bag over her head just like what happened to Kyra and put her in that van.”
It was pretty clear from the footage that there weren’t only three kidnappers. The passenger van had been packed with people. None of this made any fucking sense.
“For fuck’s sake!” Zeke growled. “Can you get a fuckin’ plate? Maybe we can have Vi run it.”
“Can try to zoom in, but it’s pretty hard to make out.”
As Rage tried to get a better look, Nix came jogging down the stairs, glancing at his cell phone. When he spotted them at the bar, he beelined over. “What’s goin’ on? Everyone’s phone’s blowin’ up. Sounds like a fuckin’ Amber Alert up there.”
Good. That was the damn point.
“Know where your sister’s at?” Zeke asked him before Rage could.
Nix’s mouth twisted. “No, ain’t her keeper.”
“The fuck you ain’t!” Rage yelled, digging his fingers into the edge of the bar so he wouldn’t lash out at his club brother.
Nix’s head jerked back. “Just tell me what the fuck’s happenin’.”
“Tryin’ to figure that out,” Zeke answered.
Rage did a quick summary. “Lyric was taken from the shop, a pillow case was pulled over her head, and she was put into a rental van by some masked fuckers.”
Nix’s mouth dropped open. “The Mafia?”
“Not sure yet,” Zeke answered.
“Look at this shit!” Rage jammed his finger into the screen again and showed Lyric’s brother as Chaos joined them.
“What the fuck? Can you zoom in to get the plate?” Nix asked.
“The van’s got a large graphic on the side. Could call the rental company,” Chaos suggested.
“That’s a huge, nationwide company. It’ll take too much fuckin’ time to call all of ‘em just in the Pittsburgh area.” Rage growled in frustration.
He was trying not to lose his shit, but it was a losing battle.
“There. I can make out the plate.” Chaos turned to Zeke. “Maybe Vi can run it to narrow it down. She needs to know what the fuck’s goin’ on, anyway.”
More of his brothers were coming down the steps, in through the back door, and filing in from The Iron Horse.
With a shake of his head, Zeke threw his phone on the bar top. “She ain’t answerin’.”
Rage pulled his cell phone out and tried to call Vi since she might be ignoring Zeke’s calls on purpose. It went right to her goddamn voicemail. “Where you at, woman? Got a situation.” He then sent a group text to T-Bone, Ghost and Grim: Where’s Vi?
He got a response from T-Bone within seconds. Said she had something to do.
Rage asked, She say what?
No, was the only response he got.
Ghost’s text popped up in the group next. No idea where she is.
Grim’s text: Something up?
Rage quickly texted back: Some fuckers took Lyric. Head to Church.
Three 10-4s came in rapid fire.
Next to him, Zeke said, “Tried Indie. She ain’t answerin’, either.”
What the actual fuck?
Rage turned to Chaos next. “Try your sister.”
“Just did. Bri ain’t answerin’, either. Her phone must be off; goin’ right to voicemail.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
This was not good. None of this was fucking good. How were all the women out of reach at once?
“Where’s Chill?” he asked Zeke.
“Guessin’ where he should be: at the pawn shop.”
Rage called Chill next and put the phone on speaker.
“Yo, brother,” Chill answered.
“Where’s Bri?”
“Dunno. She ain’t here.”
“How ‘bout Lexi or Avery?”
“They ain’t here either. Short-handed as fuck here and why I ain’t headin’ over to Church like Zeke wanted.”
Rage pushed out a breath so hot it could start a fire. “Any of ‘em tell you where they went?”
“Nope.”
Rage ground his teeth. “You didn’t ask?”
“Ain’t my business.”
Rage roared, “Their business is our fuckin’ business!”
“Then you fuckin’ tell ‘em that!” Chill barked back.
“You’re damn right I’m gonna fuckin’ tell them!”
“Good luck with that shit. What the hell’s goin’ on? Zeke mentioned somethin’ ‘bout Lyric.”
“Yeah. She got snagged and we can’t find the rest.”
“What about Gabi?” Chill asked.
Rage glanced at the time. It was too early for her to be at Heaven’s Angels. He’d have to call her. “Gonna try her next. Get your ass here.”
“Got nobody to watch the pawn shop.”
“Then shut it the fuck down,” he bit off before stabbing the End Call button. He immediately tried Gabi’s number and her phone went to voicemail, too.
Rage shot off a text to Pugsy next and told him to let him know if, or when, Gabi showed up.
This whole clusterfuck could be some sort of coordinated attack.
He sure as fuck hoped it wasn’t caused by him taking out those four Souls. He didn’t think he left a way for it to be tied back to him.
Unless he fucked up somehow.
He couldn’t worry about that shit at this point. He needed to figure out what happened to all the club sisters. The women he was responsible for, for fuck’s sake!
“So, we can’t get a holda any of the goddamn women. What if those motherfuckers took them all?”
“That would be so fucked,” Zeke groaned.
No shit. “If they did, they deserve any shit they get from them. The fuck if I’d wanna have to deal with a shitload of pissed off crazy bitches.” Rage hoped at least one of them permanently relocated their kidnappers’ balls up into their body cavity.
“Christ,” Chaos groaned. “Vi, Indie, and Lexi alone would slice them open from dick to lips and throw their balls in a blender.”
A nut smoothie would work, too. “While we got proof someone took Lyric, don’t know about the rest. Only know they ain’t answerin’ their phones or texts and they always got those goddamn things glued to their palms.” The urge to fucking punch something was clawing at his insides.
“And when the fuck can’t we get a holda Vi? ”
Never. The answer was never. He’d never known Vi not to answer or at least return a call or text quickly.
Ice skittered down Rage’s spine, but it did nothing to cool the lava bubbling in his gut. He wasn’t going to be able to look in the mirror every fucking morning if something happened to any of them on his watch.
And it was his watch.
He glanced over to where Zeke was standing off to the side with his cell phone to his ear again.
“Need to start lookin’ for my goddamn sister.” Nix prowled back and forth in front of the long bar. “If we can’t get a holda Vi, we need to get the resta the Shadows on it.”
“They’re on their way,” Rage told him.
Wheels and Cruz came rushing through the back door to join the huddle at the same time his anger boiled over.
“Don’t matter if it’s the Souls or the motherfuckin’ Russos. Gonna burn it all fuckin’ down!” Rage yelled. “What the Mafia did to the Demons gonna look like fuckin’ child’s play.”
“Just don’t get how they could fuckin’ do that and none of us see it…” Gage muttered as he joined them.
“Magic. It proves they’re witches.”
“Shut up, idiot,” Nix growled at Wheels.
Rage asked Gage, “You hear from Adrianna?”
“Why the fuck would I hear from her?”
“‘Cause she’s your goddamn sister!” Rage answered, then shouted, “Does nobody keep track of your fuckin’ sisters or cousins?”
“Ain’t most of ‘em your cousins, too?”
He ignored that question from the peanut gallery.
“They’re adults, Rage. Not fuckin’ toddlers,” Cruz said.
“Tried to get a holda my sister, but she ain’t answerin’, either,” Trick said about Avery.
“They all need those location tags,” Wheels suggested. “You know, like the ones people put on luggage or whatever.”
“Fuck that. They can toss those tags or put them somewhere on purpose to throw us off. If we get ‘em back, all are gonna get some kinda tracking app on their phone. They’re never without them.”
“If?” Nix asked.
“When,” Rage corrected.
Gage huffed, “Oh sure. They’re all gonna wanna be fuckin’ tracked. Good luck with that shit.”
Rage was surprised he hadn’t broken any teeth yet with the way he was clenching them. “Ain’t their choice.”
A few of his brothers snorted.
“Should let my dad know,” Nix said next.
Zeke grimaced. “Why don’t we figure out what the fuck’s goin’ on before we get the OGs all worked up and in here ridin’ our asses? Don’t need a buncha walkers and scooters takin’ over the clubhouse and gettin’ in our way.”
Zeke wanted to prove he and the current officers could handle shit without the OGs’ help.
“He’s gonna be fuckin’ pissed if we don’t tell him,” Nix warned.
Zeke shrugged. “Then he’s pissed. They had their time. Now it’s ours and we’re gonna fuckin’ handle it.”
Rage agreed with him.
If he and his brothers couldn’t handle a clusterfuck, then they’d call in the Shadows. If they needed more help than that, the OGs would be pulled in last.